Tim Scott launches 2024 presidential bid seeking optimistic contrast with other top rivals

The Associated Press

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott launched his presidential campaign Monday, offering an optimistic and compassionate message he’s hoping can serve as a contrast with the political combativeness that has dominated the early GOP primary field.

The Senate’s only Black Republican, Sen. Scott kicked off the campaign in his hometown of North Charleston, on the campus of Charleston Southern University, his alma mater and a private school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. He repeatedly mentioned his Christian faith in his kickoff speech, crying, “Amen! Amen! Amen!” and at several points elicited responses from the crowd, who sometimes chanted his name.

But Sen. Scott also offered a stark political choice, saying “Our party and our nation are standing at a time for choosing: Victimhood or victory.”

He added that Republicans will also have to decide between “grievance or greatness.”

“I choose freedom and hope and opportunity,” Sen. Scott said. He went on to tell the crowd that “we need a president who persuades not just our friends and our base” but seeks “commonsense” solutions and displays “compassion for people who don’t agree with us.”

That was a far cry from former President Donald Trump, who has played to the GOP’s most loyal supporters with repeated lies about his 2020 election loss as he campaigns for a second term in office. Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who could launch his own bid as soon as this week, has pushed Florida to the right by championing contentious new restrictions on abortion and LGBTQ rights and by seeking to limit the corporate power of Disney, one of his state’s most powerful business interests.

Sen. Scott, 57, planned to huddle with home state donors Tuesday, then begin a two-day campaign swing to Iowa and New Hampshire, which go first on the GOP presidential voting calendar.

His announcement event featured an opening prayer by Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican, who said, “I think our country is ready to be inspired again.” Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota’s other senator, already has announced his support for Sen. Scott.

A number of high-profile GOP senators have backed Donald Trump’s third bid for the White House, including Sen. Scott’s South Carolina colleague, Lindsey Graham.

Mr. Trump nonetheless struck a conciliatory tone Monday, welcoming Sen. Scott to the race and noting that the pair worked together on his administration’s signature tax cuts.

A source of strength for Sen. Scott will be his campaign bank account. He enters the 2024 race with more cash on hand than any other presidential candidate in U.S. history, with $22 million left in his campaign account at the end of his 2022 campaign that he can transfer to his presidential coffers.

Sen. Scott also won reelection in firmly Republican South Carolina—which has an early slot on the Republican presidential primary calendar— by more than 20 points less than six months ago. Advisers bet that can make Sen. Scott a serious contender for an early, momentum-generating win.

But Sen. Scott is not the only South Carolina option. The state’s former governor, Nikki Haley, who once served as Mr. Trump’s former United Nations ambassador, also is running.

Ben LeVan, a business professor at Charleston Southern who attended Monday’s event, said he hadn’t decided whom to support in the GOP primary but didn’t plan to back Mr. Trump. “I really do hope that we can bring some civility back in politics,” Mr. LeVan said.

“That’s one of the nice things about Tim Scott, and quite frankly, Nikki Haley, and some of the other candidates as well. They’re more diplomatic, and that is something that I appreciate.”

Like others in the GOP race, including former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and “Woke, Inc.” author Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Scott’s initial task will be finding a way to stand out in a field led by Mr. Trump and Gov. DeSantis.

One way Sen. Scott hopes to do that is his trademark political optimism. He said Monday that America’s promise means “you can go as high as our character, our grit, and our talent will take you.”

The Democratic National Committee responded to Sen. Scott’s announcement by dismissing the notion that Sen. Scott offers much of an alternative to Mr. Trump’s policies.

DNC chair Jaime Harrison, who ran unsuccessfully for Senate in South Carolina in 2020, released a statement calling the senator “a fierce advocate of the MAGA agenda,” a reference to the former president’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

On many issues, Sen. Scott does indeed align with mainstream GOP positions. He wants to reduce government spending and restrict abortion, saying he would sign a federal law to prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy if elected

The Associated Press

Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott delivers his speech Monday announcing his candidacy for president of the United States on the campus of Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, S.C. president.

But Sen. Scott has pushed the party on some policing overhaul measures since the killing of George Floyd, and he has occasionally criticized Mr. Trump’s response to racial tensions. Throughout their dis-

APPLICATION BY VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY D/B/A DOMINION ENERGY VIRGINIA FOR APPROVAL OF A RATE ADJUSTMENT CLAUSE PURSUANT TO § 56.585.1 A 4 OF THE CODE OF VIRGINIA CASE NO. PUR-2023-00065 agreements, though, Sen. Scott has maintained a generally cordial relationship with Mr. Trump, saying in his book that the former president “listened intently” to his viewpoints on race-related issues.

When he was appointed to the Senate by then-Gov. Haley in 2012, Sen. Scott became the first Black senator from the South since just after the Civil War. Winning a 2014 special election to serve out the remainder of his term made him the first Black candidate to win a statewide race in South Carolina since the Reconstruction era. He has long said his current term, which runs through 2029, would be his last.

•Dominion Energy Virginia (“DEV”) has applied for a revision of its rate adjustment clause, Rider T1, by which it recovers certain transmission and demand response program costs.

•DEV’s request represents an increase of $124,774,775 annually, which would increase a residential customer’s monthly bill using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month by $2.67.

•The Hearing Examiner assigned to this case will hold a telephonic hearing in this case on June 21, 2023, to receive public witness testimony.

•The Hearing Examiner will hold an evidentiary hearing in this case on June 22, 2023.

•Further information about this case is available on the SCC website at: scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information

On May 1, 2023, Virginia Electric and Power Company d/b/a Dominion Energy Virginia (“Dominion” or “Company”), pursuant to § 56-585.1 A 4 (“Subsection A 4”) of the Code

Subsection A 4 deems to be prudent, among other things, the “costs for transmission services provided to the utility by the regional transmission entity of which the utility is atered by the regional transmission entity of which the utility is a member.”

The Company has been a member of PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”), a regional transmission entity that has been approved by FERC as a regional transmission organization, since 2005. Dominion, as an integrated electric utility member of PJM, obtains transmission service from PJM and pays PJM charges for such service at the rates contained in FERC and administered by PJM.

In this proceeding, Dominion seeks approval of a revenue requirement for the rate year September 1, 2023, through August 31, 2024 (“Rate Year”). This revenue requirement, if approved, would be recovered through a combination of base rates and a revised increment/decrement Rider T1. Rider T1 is designed to recover the increment/decrement between the revenues produced from the Subsection A 4 component of base rates and the new revenue requirement developed from the Company’s Subsection A 4 costs for the Rate Year.

The total proposed revenue requirement to be recovered over the Rate Year is $878,758,118, comprising an increment Rider T1 of $368,484,898, and forecast collections of $510,273,220 through the transmission component of base rates. This total revenue requirement represents an increase of $124,774,775, compared to the revenues projected to bementation of the proposed Rider T1 on September 1, 2023 would increase the total monthly bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month by $2.67.

The Commission entered an Order for Notice and Hearing that, among other things, scheduled public hearings on the Company’s Application. On June 21, 2023, at 10 a.m., a Hearing Examiner appointed by the Commission will hold a telephonic hearing, with no witness present in the Commission’s courtroom, for the purpose of receiving the testimony a form on the Commission’s website at scc.virginia.gov/pages/Webcasting; (ii) by completing and emailing the PDF version of this form to SCCInfo@scc.virginia.gov; or (iii) by calling (804) 371-9141. This public witness hearing will be webcast at scc.virginia.gov/pages/Webcasting

An electronic copy of the Company’s Application may be obtained by submitting a written request to counsel for the Company: David J. DePippo, Esquire, Dominion Energy Services, Inc., 120 Tredegar Street, RS-5, Richmond, Virginia 23219, or david.j.depippo@dominionenergy.com

Commission’s website: scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case Information sion at: mission at the address listed above. Such notice of participation shall include the email addresses of such parties or their counsel, if available. A copy of the notice of participation as a respondent also must be sent to counsel for the Company. Pursuant to 5 VAC 5-20-80 B, Participation as a respondent, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure then known; and (iii) the factual and legal basis for the action. Any organization, corporation or government body participating as a respondent must be represented by counsel as required by 5 VAC 5-20-30, Counsel , any testimony and exhibits by which the respondent expects Filing and service, and 5 VAC 5-20-240, Prepared testimony and exhibits Copies and format, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice.

On or before June 16, 2023, any interested person may submit comments on the Application electronically by following the instructions on the Commission’s website: scc.virginia.gov/casecomments/Submit-Public-Comments Clerk of the State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118. All comments shall refer to Case No. PUR-2023-00065.

Commission’s website at: scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information.

VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY

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